81R7014 SJM-D
 
  By: King of Parker H.B. No. 1659
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to creating an exception to the offense of unlawful
  installation of a tracking device.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 16.06, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
  follows:
         (d)  It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
  section that the person:
               (1)  obtained the effective consent of the owner or
  lessee of the motor vehicle before the electronic or mechanical
  tracking device was installed;
               (2)  [was a peace officer who installed the device in
  the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
  court to gather information for a law enforcement agency;
               [(3)]  assisted another whom the person reasonably
  believed to be a peace officer authorized to install the device in
  the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
  court to gather information for a law enforcement agency; or
               (3) [(4)]  was a private investigator licensed under
  Chapter 1702, Occupations Code, who installed the device:
                     (A)  with written consent:
                           (i)  to install the device given by the owner
  or lessee of the motor vehicle; and
                           (ii)  to enter private residential property,
  if that entry was necessary to install the device, given by the
  owner or lessee of the property; or
                     (B)  pursuant to an order of or other
  authorization from a court to gather information.
         (e)  It is an exception to the application of this section
  that the actor was a peace officer who installed the device in the
  course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
  court to gather information for a law enforcement agency.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
  An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect at the time the offense was committed,
  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
  purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
  effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
  before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.